Adventures of a shutterbug

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I don’t get my gear ready and think, “Wow, I hope I can find some leaves in the ice today!” I tend to come upon things that capture my interest. I have always been drawn to transparency and light. Anything with complimentary colors makes me take a second look. Texture intrigues me.

Sunday I thought I should head over to the mass of daffodils on my hillside when I encountered this – the ice from the top of the birdbath, cast aside and melting into the grass. It stopped me for almost an hour.

I forgot the daffodils, I know they will still be there on the next sunny day. You have to appreciate ice while it’s here. It melts is fast and then it is gone forever.

Ok – so I don’t speak French. I took three years in high school and struggled through it. One day my teacher, Madame Sprott commented on my sweater – “Oooooo! C’est orange!” It’s been stuck in my head for over 30 years. Whenever I hear the word “orange” I can still hear her voice as she noted the color of my sweater. It was the kindest thing she ever said to me. She was pretty ambivalent about me, but that sweater…..I digress. Sorry.

Orange is a color that moves me. I feel invigorated in an orange room. I like orange clothes. It’s a color that I don’t just see, I feel it.

The maples and sassafras go through an orange stage on the way to red, but orange looks best on them.

There’s a perfect shade of orange that happens just before brown. The sunshine makes it sing.

It’s just starting, here and there, but it’s coming. I was driving home about 10 days ago and saw my first glimpse – Virginia Creeper wrapped around the trunk of a dead oak. I parked the jeep and hiked into the woods to get a look. Mosquitos everywhere and too much glare, still I found some color on the forest floor where some of the creeper had fallen

Last Saturday I got a chance to walk around my property, there are some volunteer trees – not sure what kind, but they showed the first color. These are in a space I quit mowing about 5 years ago – birds nest in them in the summer and they show great color in the fall.

On Sunday I got just a small peek at the color to come in the Boxley Valley where I shoot elk. Not great shots, we were in a hurry and I shot these from the car.
Maples.

Sassafras.

The days are getting shorter so it’s almost impossible to shoot after work. I look forward to those crips autumn weekends where I can get lost in the leaves.

What’s the color like where you are?

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I’m on a plane flying home from a business trip to Michigan. The signs of the fall are already apparent there and the colors are in the early stages of changing. Before I left I saw a couple of trees just starting the transition. After the warmest summer that the Ozarks has ever experienced there were concerns that there would be no color at all, but the gentle rains after Isaac may have saved the season.

Although Isaac brought less rain and wind than anticipate, he also brought my very first macro photo ops after a long, brown summer,
I have no idea what this is – it was on the ground and it wasn’t brown.

In a pinch, even a greened up weed will suffice as inspiration.

In between showers I would pop outside and look to see what had changed. I love rain or dewdrops on leaves.
If you look very closely and let your imagination fill in the details, I am visible reflected in the bottom center water drop. I’m gonna have to try to do that for real soon 🙂

On July 4th I posted a lament to cancelled fireworks and focused on some lilies that seemed to thrive in a hidden garden at my neighbor’s place. As promised the lilies have gone to seed and the seeds look just like blackberries.
This subterfuge confuses birds to pick them and drop them elsewhere once they discover that they are not tasty berries. I need them to carry some my way.

Another lily that peaked after Isaac was the local favorite, the Naked Lady – not sure why they call it that, but I got a chance to shoot some macro between showers.

Before the leaves change colors, a lot of the local wildlife gets a makeover for fall. This young fawn has lost her spots and is starting to go from a rusty brown to a more grey brown that matches the color of the barren winter trees. The tourists are also changing from motorcycles to minivans.

Even the cardinals are starting to spruce things up – This is one of the birds I posted images of a few weeks ago when he was impersonating a scraggly parrot. His transformation for fall is almost complete and he’s looking pretty dapper.

I don’t know what these are but they are gorgeous, I shot them at the Ponca Elk Education Center last weekend.

The Hummers at my place are fattening up and getting a bit cocky with me. This guy is roosting in my crepe myrtle, totally unconcerned with my proximity to him

In fact – I get a raspberry from him – he’s taunting me, I just know it.

Even the rain doesn’t dissuade this guy from watching over what has become his own personal feeder.

Lest I live under the illusion that I am a hummingbird whisperer and that my birds have accepted me into the flock – here are a couple that I shot at the Ponca Elk Education Center.

Apparently they are more concerned with stocking up on calories for the long journey south than they are with stalkers like me going in for the shot.

The color’s out there, and its about to explode – now is the time to take that camera absolutely everywhere! What’s the color like in your neck of the woods?